Good Magic Must Prevail Over Bad For Playoff Run

THE SPORTS COLUMN

March 11, 1997|By Brian Schmitz of The Sentinel Staff

Split squads are supposed to be limited to spring training in baseball, aren't they? But it certainly looks as if the Magic's franchise has sent several teams on the road, given the wide range of results reported from West Coast precincts.

Which of their multiple personalities will show up tonight in Denver is anybody's guess.

Will it be the Magic team that started this six-game, 10-day road swing with a stunning victory at Seattle? Or will it be the Magic team that embarrassed itself in a 36-point loss on Sunday to the Phoenix Suns, who were somehow passed over as a 16th-seeded team for the NCAA Tournament?

You've heard of the Dream Team; Orlando is the Extreme Team, drifting from promise to peril in nanoseconds.

Between the Sonics and the Suns, Orlando barely escaped the perennially woeful L.A. Clippers, then faltered late in losing to Golden State, the only club worse in the Pacific than Phoenix. Four games, four different faces of the Magic.

On this telltale trip, the most extensive challenge since Brian Hill's dismissal, they are two up and two down. It is, typically, hard to tell whether they are coming or going. They create as many questions as they answer.

What do you think Orlando's record is with their starting five on the floor for 22 games? Twelve up, 10 down - a percentage of .555. It is underwhelming. Twenty-two games remain, oddly enough. Another 12-10 stretch might be just good enough (44-38) to make the postseason - or the next Caribbean cruise in May. Will the Magic resist attempts to control their fate, who knows?

That said, it wouldn't be shocking if the schizophrenic Magic beat the Nuggets and Houston to come home 4-2.

Hey, psychics can't get a read on these guys, so how can Richie Adubato? Dr. Joyce Brothers may take over next season.

Talk about a head trip of a road trip. The Magic have had a short attention span, unable to sustain any sort of mental toughness as their play quickly deteriorated after upsetting Seattle. Looked as if they pronounced themselves contenders again without any basis. Good thing Rony Seikaly (Psychaly?) played for only two NBA teams or he'd be a frequent basket case. His shameful theatrics and disappearance into space against his ex-Golden State employers only reflected Orlando's instability.

This club doesn't need a coach; it needs a couch.

And along that line - unless another team vote was taken late Monday night in Denver - Adubato still has the job after two consecutive defeats.

If this first funk of the Adubato Era continues, the players will not be able to blame Richie publicly. They have painted and dry-walled themselves into the proverbial corner, praising a change they forced. They already have made it painfully clear in ousting Hill that they feel the players drive the Lincoln while coaches are the well-dressed chauffeurs.

The Magic need to prove their point again to recover from the demoralizing defeat to the Suns. They must somehow recapture the defensive intensity and offensive aggressiveness that fueled a 6-0 run after Hill's dismissal. The turnaround was born out of the emotional aftershocks of Hill's firing, and now they must find some other internal motivation to stop this slip-slide.

Well - and this may sound radical - but how about the playoffs?

Postseason inspiration seems like untapped territory after watching them inexplicably tank it against Phoenix. The Magic better realize that they haven't made the tournament field yet, even though they are playing like it. Do they need to be reminded that Indiana is in breathing distance while they monitor Cleveland's whereabouts? Or do they need to be in jeopardy of becoming a lottery player, feeding off the desperation?

You'd think just avoiding the Bulls in a first-round match would provide enough impetus. Maybe it doesn't matter what playoff spot the Magic annex - the dreaded eighth spot or the seventh, drawing either the Bulls or Knicks. Maybe a bad ending is inevitable.

If they are scouring for missing intensity at this point, why should we think the Magic could stand up to the Knicks? Watching the Bulls and Knicks scrap on Sunday told us a lot about Orlando. Chicago and New York were playing postseason basketball in the regular season. They each showed they have infinitely more will and mental toughness than the Magic's team - or even the Magic's teams, for that matter.